Played for NAU 1967

Gary Baumkirchner, a Lake Havasu City business leader, died Friday near La Paz, Mexico, one day before his 55th birthday.

"He was on a cross-country motorcycle trip with friends and had an accident," said John Stacey, broker for Baumkirchner's McCulloch Realty.  According to reports from the family, the accident occurred in a remote area making it difficult for him to get medical help.  "It was hard to get to him. The nearest hospital was 120 miles away," a shaken Brian Baumkirchner, one of Gary's two sons, said Saturday afternoon.  According to Stacey, Baumkirchner, or "Baumer," as his friends called him, founded McCulloch Realty in 1978.  "He lived his life like a bomber - on the edge," Stacey said.  Before founding McCulloch Realty, Baumkirchner sold land in Lake Havasu City for Holly Corporation, Stacey said. The first agent at McCulloch Realty, Beverly Martin, recalled that other local realtors balked at the choice of Baumkirchner's name for his company.

"He told everyone he named his company McCulloch because it was on McCulloch Boulevard," Martin recalled. "Gary knew what he was doing. I remember Bob McCulloch jokingly telling him it could be a detriment to use his name." Martin met Baumkirchner at McCulloch's London Bridge Tennis Club in 1974 and went to work for him in 1978. Baumkirchner was a member of the London Bridge Rotary Club. A fellow member and friend of the family knew Baumkirchner for 13 years. "Gary's legacy is expressed through his family," Joe Vitela said Saturday afternoon. "He and his wife Gail raised four terrific kids." At Baumkirchner's head office Saturday afternoon agents hugged one another in their grief and disbelief. The office Baumkirchner founded with Martin and one other agent has grown to 70 employees. Martin said Baumkirchner was known for his work hard, play-hard attitude and that he did not look forward to growing old. "I remember him telling me I don't want to be sick and be in a hospital, and I don't want to get old. I just don't like that program," a tearful Martin said. "Even though it's sad for all of us, at least he died doing what he enjoyed." His wife Gail; four children, Brian, Brad, Brooke and Brandy; and a grandson, Maximilian, survive Baumkirchner.